Granaries, Shipyards and Wharves - Cycling from Guildford

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“The fastest ship, I think, that ever left the ways was the Lothair. I was second mate of a Newbury Port ship, and we were running our easting down bound out to Canton, and we were somewhere near Tristan d’Acunha when we sighted a vessel astern. It was blowing hard from the nor’ west and the next time I looked a couple of hours later, there was the ship close on our quarter, and we doing 12 knots. ‘Holly Jiggers’ says I to the mate ‘there’s the Flying Dutchman!’ [The legendary ghost ship]. ‘Naw’ says he ‘It’s the Thermopylae’. [A very fast Aberdeen built clipper]. But when she was abeam a little later, she hoisted her name, the Lothair, and it’s been my opinion ever since that she was making mighty close to 17 knots”. She was launched on 2 July 1870. I wonder how many of those who watched her lovely sleek hull embraced by the Thames realised that this would be the last vessel of any size to be built in Rotherhithe? You are standing at the place where an industry died… LAVENDER DOCK SHIPYARD seems to have had no connection even with ship repair after the mid- 1890s. By 1906, the dry dock had been filled in and the premises occupied by W. B. DICK, manufacturers of lubricants. CASTROL, in the same business were the last occupants here in the 1970s. �WALK ON UPSTREAM ALONGSIDE THE RIVER Redevelopment has completely obliterated all landmarks and clues to the past on this stretch of the walk, but keep an eye on the other bank of the Thames, and when you can just see both words LIMEHOUSE MARINA at the entrance to the old Regents Canal Dock, pause. This is the site of HORSEFERRY DOCK, named for a ferry capable of carrying horses, carts and carriages between Rotherhithe and Limehouse. The enterprise 42 SOUTHWARK HISTORY WALKS
was sanctioned by Act of Parliament in 1755, and the approach ramp on the Rotherhithe side obliterated the SHEPHERD & DOG WATERMEN’S STAIRS. These were named after a local tavern closed in 1820, but I have been unable to find any record of when the HORSEFERRY ceased to operate. SHEPHERD & DOG STAIRS appear in an official list of 1708. The shipyard here appears to have been the last to start work in Rotherhithe. Indeed there was not even a dry dock here, until other people were on the verge of closing theirs down and filling them in. The shipbuilder here, JOHN JENKINS THOMPSON began business as a boat builder in the small yard at Princes Stairs previously occupied by the COURTHOPE family, mentioned in connection with BARNARD’S WHARF. It may be that as a young man he had been involved in the construction of Regent in 1816. He moved here in around 1830, still as a boat builder constructing yachts and lifeboats, but in the following decade he modernised the yard and began building steamers. The Ariel was one of the first being launched in 1844 for the Woolwich Steam Packet Co. Her hull was of mahogany, a material more usually employed in SHIPYARDS, GRANARIES AND WHARVES 43
Page 1 and 2: Maritime Rotherhithe HISTORY WALK W
Page 3 and 4: The walk in this booklet is present
Page 5 and 6: TOP: THE PATENT SLIP AT NELSON DOCK
Page 7 and 8: Ancilliary trades The wooden sailin
Page 9 and 10: TOP: GREENLAND DOCK VIEWED FROM THE
Page 11 and 12: had been devastated during the blit
Page 13 and 14: TOP: IN THIS CONTEMPORARY ENGRAVING
Page 15 and 16: � WALK UPSTREAM ALONG THE RIVERSI
Page 17 and 18: FROM TOP: RISING STAR, KARTERIA, AN
Page 19 and 20: cutting timbers, being turned into
Page 21 and 22: � WALK ALONG GULLIVER STREET AND
Page 23 and 24: �WALK TOWARDS THE RIVER, AND THE
Page 25 and 26: ABOVE: THE EAST INDIAMAN TRUE BRITO
Page 27 and 28: �RETRACE YOUR STEPS, PAST THE PRO
Page 29 and 30: The change in the paving marks the
Page 31 and 32: The CAISSON on which you are standi
Page 33 and 34: ABOVE: NELSON DOCK HOUSE, AS PARTIA
Page 35 and 36: TOP: SERAPIS BUILT BY RANDALL & BRE
Page 37 and 38: RIGHT: THE STREET ELEVATION OF THE
Page 39 and 40: the post, said to be the origin of
Page 41 and 42: after which the site seems to have
Page 43: year he built Southampton, to the d
Page 47 and 48: Merlin, which served as a Royal Yac
Page 49 and 50: end of the building you can see tha
Page 51 and 52: in New Broad Street. As the KING &
Page 53 and 54: DOCKYARD was gradually reduced, a l
Page 59 and 60: Further reading ■ Map of London &
Page 61 and 62: THE LONDON & SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY

Granaries, Shipyards and Wharves - Cycling from Guildford

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